home status: Climbing Trees and Bad Toupees - 03/12/08 12:25 PM
When I was a kid about 10 years old, I loved to climb trees, much to the worriment of my mom. I even built a tree house for some friends and me in the back yard...but that's a story for another time.
Recently I have begun to call on those old … (7 comments)
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home status: An Intentional Defect? - 01/23/08 01:43 PM
… (8 comments)
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home status: But Will the House Dance? - 11/06/07 06:54 AM
Selling an older home today can be alot like getting back in the dating game after many years of married life. Lots of updating to do. In today's real estate market, update you must, or more than likely, the house sits, and sits, and sits....like a wall flower at the dance.
This … (9 comments)
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home status: Buyer Be Wary! - 11/05/07 03:05 PM
If you like television series CSI, you'll enjoy this.
This inspection was of an 11 year old single family house that showed well...no, better than that, it was spectacular! Tremendous upgrades, granite, ceramic tile, hardwood floors, the works. It was also almost vacant, but tastefully staged, when I saw it. It … (8 comments)
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home status: What's Different About Foreclosures? - 10/29/07 06:19 AM
The rising tide of forclosures has left some lasting impressions with me. Inspections of foreclosed properties have gone from about 3% of my business last year to about 25% this year. The trend seems to be accellerating.
Obviously foreclosed properties are different. Like the woman who is magical with make up … (9 comments)
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home status: Don't be Lulled Asleep! - 10/26/07 03:35 PM
Here is a seller stereotype that you have probably run into before.
Really good people. They've lived in their house for 25 years. Cared for it well. It is beautiful. They desire that the next people who live in their house get the same kind of joy that they have from it. … (16 comments)
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home status: The Ceiling Fan Farm! - 10/24/07 08:46 AM
My initial impression of the second floor bedrooms in this foreclosure house was that if you turned on all the ceiling fans full speed, there was one in every room, the roof might blast off!
Just as in houses where there are air fresheners in every electrical receptacle, ceiling fans in … (9 comments)
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home status: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Sump Pump - 10/23/07 10:41 AM
"Will you talk to my mother?" My client asked. She had just called me and was exasperated by all her mother's concerns about the sump pump in her prospective home that I had just inspected. I told her that I would be glad to set her mind at ease.
This house … (6 comments)
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home status: Radon Myths - revised - 10/21/07 08:03 AM
Some clients and agents do not have correct knowledge about Radon:
Myth 1 - Slab foundations. "We don't need to test Radon, this house has a slab foundation." The agent said this to me as though it was an absolute fact. I told him I wished that were true, but Radon … (10 comments)
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home status: Cat on a Hot Roof! - 10/19/07 06:40 PM
"Oh good!" I thought to my self as I drove up the driveway. "A relatively new roof, 30 year shingles, and they threw in a ridge vent."
On a 30 year old house, I had expected to see a roof covering that was not original. Worst case scenerio, they had replaced … (10 comments)
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home status: Shut up and Bail! - 10/18/07 08:17 AM
My client was very excited about owning her first home. So much so that when I started doing my inspection, she started cleaning and doing repairs! Never mind that she didn't own the house yet! She wanted to get a head start and she had come prepared to get some serious … (12 comments)
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home status: Uncommon Sense! - 10/17/07 07:13 AM
I wrote this last year when weather conditions were the exact opposite as they are now here in Virginia. We are currently having our worst drought in years. However, stick around, we will have torrential rains soon.
July 30, 2006
This last week I was called by a lovely older lady to do … (12 comments)
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home status: Spotting Amateur Work - 10/15/07 09:18 PM
If his work were being judged by neatness, Mrs. Norwood, my old english teacher, would have given him an A+. In fact, if you did not know what you are looking for you would think it was the work of a professional.
In preparation for selling his house, the owner spent … (4 comments)
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home status: Nature vs. Nurture - 10/15/07 08:08 AM
Foreword, there may be people that think I should not mention the Virginia Tech tragedy in context of a home inspection blog or news letter. I do so here with the utmost respect for the victums, their families and everyone involved with this incident. At the time, our hearts were heavy … (1 comments)
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home status: The Fixer Upper! - 10/14/07 03:57 PM
"Does this house qualify for one of your email letters? My agent friend asked me with a devilish grin. "Probably about three" I said, and I began to think of the lessons this house could teach.
This was a 29 year old split level on a beautiful mountain lot which showed … (4 comments)
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home status: On Discipline When Business is Slow - 10/13/07 03:14 PM
I was opening an old electrical panel and my electric drill didn't have the power to turn the screws, so I reached in my bag for my manual screw driver. It wasn't there. I had to improvise, basically using my electric drill as a manual screw driver. No big deal right?
Well I … (31 comments)
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home status: The Bottomless Hose Bib! - 10/12/07 07:04 AM
For all the agents who are custodians of empty listed houses, it's that time of year again. Freezing temperatures in many parts of the country are right around the corner. Cases like the one below are rare, but if you find an outside faucet that does not shut off properly, get … (4 comments)
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home status: A Common New Construction Problem - 10/11/07 02:29 PM
"Have you ever used a home inspector before? This is a standard warm up question and this time the response by my clients, a young couple buying a new house, was a suprise! They both answered at once. He said, "Yes" She said, "No." I was beginning to think this might … (13 comments)
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home status: Unwritten Rules #103 & 104 - 10/11/07 07:24 AM
A friend of mine who happens to be a real estate agent related a horror story to me several months ago that I felt should be passed along to others. The second story below happened to me on an inspection. Both teach rules to live by in Real Estate which are probably … (9 comments)
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home status: Unwritten Rules #101 & 102 - 10/09/07 07:03 AM
These rules may be covered in real estate training, but they never came up in my home inspection classes. I believe they apply equally to both agents and home inspectors.
"Pretty nice place" I said as I began reviewing the home inspection report with my client. This had become a standard … (5 comments)
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home status: House under Wraps! - 10/08/07 12:06 PM
Now that's a wrap! I said to my client, marveling at the cleanest, nicest job in attaching and sealing the house wrap material I had ever seen.
This is an important topic that is often missed and misunderstood. Today's house wraps, the good ones, are a very important part of the comfort … (1 comments)
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home status: Aunt Sallie's Glorious Bowl - 10/07/07 07:26 AM
"That ugly old thing, I completely forgot about that." My client said.
I was just finishing up on my report for a Home Wellness Inspection and had mentioned a large ornate bowl I had run across in his attic. It appeared to have been there a long time and had multiple … (12 comments)
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home status: What's an Arc? - 10/06/07 07:50 AM
What's an Arc!
I'm smiling.
The title "What's an Arc?" reminds me of Bill Cosby's "Noah!" Sorry, this isn't about the biblical boat or the famous comedian.
Arcs are defined as the luminous discharge of electricity across an insulating medium. They are different from ground faults which pass through a conductor (hopefully not … (10 comments)
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home status: Shut up Murphy! - 10/04/07 01:57 PM
Murphy rides on my shoulder and tells me what fun he's having. Most of the time he doesn't bother me...just when he can cause some mischief.
Like last week when I was studying an electrical panel and noticed a breaker labeled Sump Pump. That's funny I thought. I've been all over this … (1 comments)
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home status: Electrical Amateurs - 10/03/07 06:44 AM
He was proud that he, a complete electrical novice, had figured out how to run an electrical line for a dining room chandelier and it worked! When he flipped the switch up the lights went on, down, the lights went and off.
Later, his wife pointed out that if the switch for the … (17 comments)
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home status: Where do we start? - 10/02/07 07:02 AM
I think it's fantastic that some people live together for 30, 40, 50 or more years. When they live together in the same place without moving, sometimes the rest of the real estate world passes their house by. That was the case with this inspection and I've had quite a few … (7 comments)
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home status: Did You See the Gorilla? - 09/30/07 05:53 PM
Nothing describes a common hazard to home inspectors better than this story, told to me by my daughter-in-law Ravit who has her Doctorate in Education Science.
She describes a study of young adult students who were observed while watching a basketball game. During the action of the game, a man, dressed in a … (9 comments)
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home status: The Field Panel - 09/29/07 08:14 AM
His passion was restoring old cars and as I drove up to the old farm house on the hill, I saw several old 40ish clunkers in a field about 300 feet down the hill from the house.
He needed electrical power for a sander and some other small tools so he improvised … (0 comments)
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home status: Tell Tale Signs - 09/28/07 08:38 AM
Some houses scream "Help Me!"...others give up their secrets quietly and reluctantly. After you have home inspected for a while, you learn the language and how to coax out what needs to be known.
For agents, there are several signs that you can use to reinforce with your clients the use of … (32 comments)
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home status: Federal Pacific Panels - 09/27/07 05:54 PM
The problem with Federal Pacific Panels is that when you find them they are not smoking or spitting sparks. They are just sitting there working as they have for 25, 30, or more years.
Because of this, some inspectors will say that a Federal Panel is OK...I say be careful. I cannot, … (8 comments)
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home status: The Tale of Two Townhouses - 09/27/07 05:23 AM
This was a unique experience! The call came in as two townhouse inspections on the same afternoon for the same client. The inspections turned out to be for a pair of sisters (not the Nun type) and the townhouses were close together in Springfield, VA.
Both of these townhouses were about the … (2 comments)
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home status: Nervous Nellie - 09/26/07 09:19 AM
I picked the title Nervous Nellie because my client was a woman. If it had been a man it would be Petrofied Pete. In either case, this was an excellent example of the agent helping during the home inspection to keep the client focused and calm. He did nothing to down play, … (3 comments)
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home status: X - Wires - 09/25/07 07:13 PM
"Holy Smokes" I said out loud as my current detector went crazy next to a live, loose, jumble of 6 AWG (55 amp) wire. That's a big wire to encounter loose in a crawl space and that much electrical power would kill almost instantly. That is an X-wire.
I've named them … (10 comments)
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home status: The Right Way to get a Second Opinion - 09/25/07 07:37 AM
They tricked me and I am glad.
It was one of those hectic days. I had three inspections scheduled and planned on a twelve hour day with driving. During my morning inspection the inspection at mid day fell through. Appraisal not high enough. While on the way to inspection number two I learned … (2 comments)
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home status: The Whole House Maid - 09/24/07 01:41 PM
I was about half way through an inspection of a beautiful 15 year old upscale single family house in McLean when I noticed the maid going about her cleaning routine.
She was using a conventional vacuum cleaner. As an inspector some things make me go "Hummmm." In this case it was the … (7 comments)
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home status: Dead People don't Pay their Rent! - 09/23/07 05:21 PM
"What you are saying is, dead people don't pay their rent!"
Bingo! I thought. He gets it!
My client had asked me how he can reduce his liability as a first time landlord. And I said to him that on an old townhouse like this one, one of the best things he can … (4 comments)
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home status: Reverse What? - 09/22/07 08:15 AM
When people skip home inspections, there are alot of things they fail to learn about a house. Sometimes they live in the house for years and do not maintain the things they don't know about or understand. Water filters are a casualty in many home transactions. They don't need to be if the … (6 comments)
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home status: Silence of the Fan! - 09/20/07 07:24 PM
This was one of those cases where I had both the owner and the buyer in the house at the same time. My agent told the owner about the attic fan in the story below and it was a bit embarrassing for her because she was trying to do the right thing. … (3 comments)
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home status: The Sacrificial Attic Fan - 09/19/07 07:06 AM
When I wrote this news letter over a year ago, this was the first instance I had found like this. Since then I have found it three more times, always in a house built in the late 1970's early 1980's. It was a time when the economy was out of control, inflation, … (7 comments)
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home status: Knowledge Is Power! - 09/18/07 07:37 AM
When I wrote this newsletter over a year ago, little did I know that the real estate market which was already off by more that 25% in my Northern VA area, would take another nose dive as the questionable lending practices and the "title wave" of foreclosures and property devaluations would sweep … (1 comments)
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home status: The Loft Bake Oven - 09/17/07 06:16 AM
Had they gone with the trend of last year's (two years ago) white hot RE market they would have skipped the inspection and boy would they have been in for a surprise!
It was a three story Tudor with contemporary touches. The seller, an investment "flipper," had put in all hardwood floors, … (2 comments)
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home status: Who's on First? - 09/16/07 10:56 AM
To get you ready for this, a GFCI electrical outlet is the kind that has the reset buttons on it and a GFCI protected outlet is one that follows it in the circuit, and is properly wired. It does not need to have reset buttons to be protected.
I was inspecting … (3 comments)
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home status: Hipped Roofs Again! - 09/16/07 07:55 AM
I try not to walk on the hipped portion of a roof without first seeing in the attic how it has been constructed.
For the gable (A - Frame) portion of a roof, roof trusses are manufactured to exacting measurements and standards in a controlled setting. These are then shipped to the … (5 comments)
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home status: An Electical Iceberg! - 09/15/07 07:13 AM
They are lucky to be alive!" he said, "that was one of the worst I've seen."
Normally I do not get the complete details from a specialist that my inspection report calls for, but in this case I knew the licensed electrician used for the thorough electrical inspection and repairs I called … (3 comments)
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home status: The Mortgage Plug - 09/14/07 05:39 AM
It's well known to people who know me that I love old houses.
What sparked that love was a little thing, and a big thing. And I look out for things on inspections that will add to my clients' love and respect for their old house, just as this added to mine.
It … (5 comments)
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home status: Bidee, Bidet, Bidoops! - 09/13/07 09:39 AM
"How's this work?" My young client asked as I was checking out something else in the bathroom.
She had just pulled up the lid of a toilet that was equipped with a very fancy, auxiliary powered, portable Bidet spa and before I could say anything, she had pushed a button. She let … (4 comments)
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home status: Poly, Poly, Poly - 09/12/07 06:56 AM
Sometimes, you'd think I just told them a family member died...when I tell clients they have polybutylene plumbing. Such is the awful reputation of polybutylene plumbing.
You won't find me singing praises to polybutylene, but let's take the emotion out of it. After all, polybutylene isn't the only material that can spring … (10 comments)
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home status: HVAC Check up - 09/11/07 06:24 AM
Note: some of the items I am posting were written last year, and I intend eventually to have all of my stuff in this blog. It will take time. I invite readers to come back frequently because there will be new material every day.
One of my home buying clients recently did something … (1 comments)
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home status: GFCI's on old 2 wire circuits - 09/10/07 07:49 AM
Note: some of the items I am posting were written last year, and I intend eventually to have all of my stuff in this blog. It will take time. I invite readers to come back frequently because there will be new material every day.
I was a bit surprised! The house had GFCI … (3 comments)
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home status: Don't Leave it like you found it - Part 2 - 09/09/07 09:02 AM
She was quite angry when she called. I had inspected her house a couple of days prior and she complained that I left her windows unlocked. I let her talk for quite some time and then asked her if the windows in question were in her dining room and front bedroom. … (0 comments)
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home status: Assume Nothing - 09/08/07 12:21 PM
My inspection friend, colleague and mentor Bill Meininger of Home Diagnostics related to me an experience which I think about almost every day. He was inspecting a high-end new house, a final inspection prior to settlement, and had found nothing of any consequence when he reached the master bathroom.
It was … (2 comments)
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home status: Garage Freezers - 09/08/07 12:16 PM
March, 2006
"Pay no attention to the smell", the seller said as she met my client and me at the door. "We just got back from vacation and found the freezer in the garage broken down. Lost about $400 worth of food. Guess we'll be buying a new freezer."
Asking me to forget … (0 comments)
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home status: Don't Leave it Like You Found it - Part 1 - 09/07/07 06:58 PM
Improve on it if you can.
Perhaps you've noticed as you've been in and out of houses this summer, many of them vacant, the occasional acts of negligence. Many of these houses have been poorly cared for and in some cases, quite literally abused. A couple of weeks ago, on a … (5 comments)
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home status: Garage Door Safety - 09/07/07 01:28 PM
With the car half in the garage, teen Vanessa got out and hurried inside the house. By habit, as she raced through the back door, she hit the close button on the garage door and a few seconds later heard the sickening sound of the car's hood being crunched under the … (3 comments)
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home status: Underground Wire Suprise! - 09/07/07 11:05 AM
My "Inspection Tip of the Week" news letters are intended to be informal and a quick read. 5 minutes at the most. I don't commercialize or beat my own drum, but intend the regular frequency of the news letters to serve to remind my audience of real estate professionals and business … (1 comments)
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